“Here I am,” I repeat, nearly swooning at the way he takes such good care of me, even when I don’t know he’s doing it. “Thank you,” I say again.
Jaxon rolls his eyes. “Stop saying that,” he tells me as he zips the backpack before picking up my coat and helping me into it. “None of this is a big deal.”
“That’s not true,” I say, snagging his hand when he would have started for the door. I wait until he turns toward me to continue. “It’s a very big deal to me, and I appreciate it.”
He gives a little one-shouldered shrug, but I can tell he’s pleased by my words. Still, looking at him out here in the light, I also realize the tiredness I saw on his face from earlier wasn’t just sleepiness. He’s feeling drained, even though he won’t say so. I can tell, from the open books scattered all over the table by the window, he’s been burning the candle at both ends researching the Unkillable Beast. We know it’s on an enchanted island in the Arctic, but he wanted to learn more about it to help us prepare. Plus, he’d mentioned earlier trying to find a weakness.
My chest tightens. I know the horror is weighing on him of what Hudson could do if we bring him back with his abilities.
“Ready?” he asks, taking a step back. “It’s almost nine.”
“Almost ready,” I answer, wrapping my arms around his waist. As I do, I reach for the mating bond, which is easy to find after last night, when I discovered all the different threads inside me.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
Instead of answering, I grab on to the black string with green streaks and start channeling a bunch of energy down the mating bond and straight into him.
“Stop!” Jaxon pulls away. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t have to do anything,” I answer. “But I’m doing this.” And now that I can hold the mating bond in my hand, it doesn’t matter if I’m touching Jaxon or not. I’m not letting go of it until it looks like Jaxon has all the strength and energy he needs.
“What are you doing?” Hudson demands. “You can’t just send all your power into him! What are you going to do when you need it?”
I smile at Jaxon, but I’m answering them both. “I can do anything I want—and what I want is to take care of Jaxon.”
Hudson throws his hands in the air. “Maybe you’ll feel differently when you get your ass handed to you on the practice field today.”
My breath hitches. I know he meant to hit back at me, but I’m still surprised when I feel the punch in my chest. Just a reminder I’d started to let my guard down around Hudson, started to believe he really thought I was stronger than everyone else gives me credit for. And I have no idea why finding out that he doesn’t suddenly makes me so sad.
Besides, he’s completely wrong. We have a plan, and now that I can shift into my gargoyle, I know it’s going to work.
Win the Ludares tournament and get the bloodstone.
Grab a bone from a graveyard.
And well, yeah, stealing the Unkillable Beast’s heartstone feels a little iffy, but Jaxon is positive we can do it.
Once we do all that, we’ll get Hudson out of my head once and for all—and he won’t be able to hurt anyone else. Jaxon can finally get some sleep and we can maybe, maybe have a normal end to our senior year.
Or, you know, at least completely doable.
For the first time since I learned Hudson is stuck in my head, I can’t help the smile spreading across my face. We’ve got a plan: Win the game. Get the bone. Kill the beast. As Macy likes to say, easy-peasy. We’ve totally got this.
Jaxon and I head out of his room hand in hand, a lightness in my step that’s only marginally dimmed when I think I hear Hudson mutter, “We’re all doomed.”
59
Two Vampires
Too Many
Jaxon and I are the first to make it to the practice field. Because I’m bundled up in four layers of clothing, he insists I strip off the top two layers—which doesn’t sit well with me, considering I’m still freezing from the walk through the forest, but he says if I start to sweat, it will make the walk back a million times worse.
I mean, the temperature isn’t terrible—at least not by Alaska’s standards—but something tells me I’ll still be cold here in the middle of July.
“So what are we going to work on today?” I ask as I strip out of my coat, my hoodie, and my ski pants. The fact that I’m still wearing my fleece pants, leggings, a tank top, and a long-sleeve thermal shirt makes my head spin—and I’m pretty sure it always will. I guess it really is true that you can take the girl out of San Diego, but you can’t take San Diego out of the girl…
“I thought we’d see what you can do,” Jaxon says. “And I know Flint wants to get everyone talking strategy for the game.”
“He’s really taking this seriously,” I comment as I start to stretch. “Especially considering we only have a couple days to train and the stakes are so high.”
“Oh, I think he’s got a lot of reasons he wants to win,” Jaxon tells me with a look I can’t quite decipher. “Plus, I don’t think you get what a big deal Ludares is here. The whole school looks forward to March for the tournament, and the winners get bragging rights for the rest of the year. And there’s also the fact that Flint’s team came in second last year, and I’m sure he’s planning on making sure this year is different.”
I bend over and put my hands flat on the ground as I stretch out my legs. “Thankfully, considering this is our best shot at a bloodstone.”
Jaxon makes a sound of agreement deep in his throat, but when I peer around my thigh at him, there’s a gleam in his eye that says he’s focused on something else entirely: namely my butt as I bend over to stretch.
“Hey! We’re supposed to be talking about the competition,” I tell him as I open my legs wider so that I can stretch from side to side.
“Get first place, win the bloodstone, vanquish Hudson. I got it,” he says, but he still hasn’t lifted his eyes from my ass.
“Jaxon!” Heat rushes to my cheeks, but it makes me happy that he gets as much pleasure looking at me as I do looking at him—after all, I’ve been enjoying the sight of him in that compression shirt since I first saw him in it this morning.
“Sorry,” he says, coming closer to rub a hand up and down my back. “Sometimes it hits me in the face how lucky I am to have you.”
His honesty makes my knees tremble. But when I stand up, I’m still determined not to let him see how much—at least not until he leans forward and drops a kiss on first one cheek and then the other. “You’re beautiful, Grace, inside and out. And I’m so grateful you found me.”